A variety of cutting tool arrangements are available today for carrying out a precision cutting operation and, in particular, a reaming operation by means of which a precise and smooth inner diameter is produced on the inner wall of tubes, machined holes in workpieces and the like. For instance, such tools commonly referred to as "reamers" may be of the multifluted type having a plurality of circumferentially spaced cutting edges for removing a very thin layer of material in a smooth and dimensionally accurate manner.
Such reamers are usually of unitary construction adapted to be supported for rotation in a suitable machine tool for the reaming operation. In addition, many of such present-day types of such reamers are provided with removable cutting blades so that such blades can be replaced when worn. The use of replaceable elements in such tool assemblies does provide certain advantages but often require replacement of major portions of the cutting tool.
While such present day reaming tools perform with a reasonable degree of satisfaction, room for improvement in such tools still exists. In some cases, where high tolerances and/or a high degree of smoothness is sought, the results often fall short of these objectives.
It can be understood, as with any type of cutting tool, wearing of the blade cutting edges is rapid requiring blade replacement and/or edge sharpening which in present-day tool construction, is time consuming and expensive even when replaceable cutting blades are utilized. Furthermore, present-day machine tools with which such reaming tools are associated are designed to carry out a reaming operation with vertical movement of the tool creating undesirable vibrations leading to inaccuracies as well as creating problems with chipremoval and/or tool cooling. These problems are magnified when older machine tools with worn slides or the like are used.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,689,131-Priest shows a boring tool having a blade which is removably attached to a shank by a slot arrangement and a threaded collar.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,601-Benjamin discloses a spade drill, the blade of which is removably attached to a holder by means of slots and a socket headed cap screw.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,067,638-Eckardt shows a ball floating reamer which is provided with a spherical cutter with a U-shaped retainer on a housing and a spring and ball arrangement to permit the cutter to roll to an exact center point.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,070-Matthews et al shows a reamer with a U-shaped replaceable blade which is releasably locked to a supporting body member.
None of the above-listed patents discloses a reamer which has a replaceable blade similar to that of the instant invention.